‘Breaking Bad’: Who’s that guy?

The pre-Labor Day episode launched an intriguing new mystery: Who is this “Gustavo Fring,” anyway? Hank’s investigation into Gale’s murder has turned up the fact that there is no record in Chile, Gus’ native country, of a “Gustavo Fring.” He seems to have sprung, fully formed, at the point where he emigrated into the U.S. from Mexico, which is where he went after leaving Chile. I’m guessing he did some very, very bad stuff there — any theories?

Taking a few steps back, let’s look at the other stuff that happened this week. The show opened with a call-back to Walt’s conversation with Gus at the hospital after Hank was injured and right before the second cousin died, after having dragged his legless torso from his bed to somehow kill Walt. Tuco’s uncle Hector learned of the cousins’ deaths on television; Gus arrived at the home where he lives to fill in the blanks, basically saying that a violent end was always in the cards for the cousins: “This is what comes of blood for blood, Hector,” he said. And then we got a glimpse of blood seeping into water, a chilling visual that suggested that the episode would make good on its opening promise of “intense violence.”

Flashing back to the present, we see Walt at a checkup to see if his cancer has returned. He eventually says he was judged to be cancer-free, but I suspect he may be lying about that — something in his eyes and his facial expression when he returned to work after this scan suggested it to me; there’s also the fact that they’ve re-introduced Walt’s health as a story thread, which they hadn’t focused on in a long time. A fellow patient was trying to calm his own nerves by engaging Walt in conversation, and the guy quoted that aphorism”Man plans; God laughs.” Walt dismissed that as b.s.: “Never give up control,” he snarled at the guy. “Live life on your terms….Every life comes with a death sentence.”

Gus, meanwhile, was summoned to a meeting with Tim, the Albuquerque homicide detective, and a DEA contingent, all brought together to ask him about the evidence that Hank had uncovered. Gus had an answer — a plausible answer — to everything. He had known Gale because he had been a recipient of a chemistry scholarship that Gus funded; and Gale, having re-established contact with Gus, had invited him to dinner at his apartment in hopes of turning Gus onto an “investment opportunity,” which Gus turned down. Then Hank asked whether “Gustavo Fring” was his real name, since there was no record of him in Chile, which Gus put up to poor recordkeeping at the time in Chile. Gus, never breaking a sweat, left the meeting, the only outward indication that a nerve had been struck a tiny finger gesture and the slightest hint of fear in his eyes.

Turns out that everybody at the interview bought his story except for Hank, who called it a “good story.” He wondered why, given Gus’ connections to law enforcement, he hadn’t called the cops when he had read about Gale’s death in the newspaper, especially given that he had recently had contact with him? Hank’s ex-boss didn’t see the lack of a phone call as just cause for further investigation. Hank disagrees, and, privately, decides to continue chasing the case on his own.

Hank gets Walt to drive him to Los Pollos Hermanos, then asks him to plant a tracking device on Gus’ car. He shares his theory about Gus being a major drug kingpin with Walt, who tries very hard to seem shocked; he is legitimately flustered when Hank hands the device to him AND he notices that Mike is watching from a car nearby. While Hank stayed in the car, Walt walked into the restaurant, showed the tracker to Gus (who insisted on waiting on Walt himself, of course), and said, “I didn’t do it.” Then, of course, he does it. When Walt gets to work, he pleads his case to the camera, telling Gus (or whoever else might be watching) that Hank has no actual evidence, and that additional violence serves no one’s purpose — it would just draw unwanted attention.

Later, Walt went to see Jesse to find out if he had been able to set up a meeting with Gus. Walt needs Jesse (who, we also learned, is continuing to finance Andrea’s life, with Saul delivering cash to her in her very nice new house) to step things up and poison Gus pronto. Jesse says he has had no contact with Gus, a great big lie; when Jesse goes off to use the restroom, he gets a text, which Walt reads; it’s from Mike, cancelling a meeting with Gus. So now Walt knows that Jesse, his sole ally in this enterprise, may not be as loyal as Walt believed.

Mike meets Gus on his own to discuss the Hank situation. Mike tells Gus that Hank has nothing — “the guy’s Miss Daisy with binoculars.” However, he says, the timing is problematic — if Hank does, somehow, get some information and they have to deal with him along with the cartel, it could be a “perfect storm” situation.

Gus leaves the restaurant, yanking the tracker from his car and sticking it to a trash can in the parking lot. He heads out to see Hector, asks him if the time had come. (Side note: Anybody else notice that Gus’ accent is thicker when he meets with Hector?) He tells him that he refused the cartel’s offer. And then, there’s the flashback that delivers on the earlier promise of “extreme violence.” Gus and his partner in Los Pollos Hermanos, the chef who developed the recipe, had finagled a meeting with Don Eladio, head of the cartel. We get to see a swaggering, very scary young Hector, who pees in the pool while they wait for Eladio to arrive. Eladio says that his guys have bought drugs in Gus’ restaurant, which suggests that he’s attempting to muscle in on the cartel’s turf. Gus says no, no, no — they were merely samples to show the cartel the chef’s work. (He’s a trained chemist, as well, and Gus financed his eduacation.) It’s really good meth…which the cartel is not interested in. They’re cocaine guys; meth is for hillbillies. Gus makes the case for meth, pointing out that, because the ingredients for cocaine aren’t native to Mexico, the cartel is reduced to being middle men for Colombians. Meth is entirely manufactured, and so they could do it themselves and keep the profits, too. Don Eladio is not impressed with Gus; he asks why, if the chef is the one who actually makes the meth, he needs Gus at all. The chef argues for Gus’ skills as a businessman, speaking passionately about all that Gus has done for him. For his trouble, he is shot in the head by Hector and collapses, blood and brains spurting into the pool, giving us the earlier glimpse of blood in the water.

Gus, who has always been so cool, freaks out. He is forced down next to his chef, forced to look into his eyes. Don Eladio tells him he will let Gus live because “I know who you are. But you aren’t in Chile any more.”

I didn’t get the question that Gus asked Hector — if this was the time. Anybody want to offer up a guess? Post your theories and comments below and let’s have a conversation.